Monday, March 19, 2012

THE FIVE W’S Of Carol Mason + giveaway

Congratulations to our winner, AM!

For the month of March, novelist Carol Mason, best-selling author of The Love Market, Send Me A Lover and The Secrets of Married Women, is donating 50% of all net proceeds from her Amazon E book sales to Breast Cancer foundation. If you wish to support the cause you can buy any or all of her three E books on Amazon.com for $2.99 each, or 2 pounds UK, then send proof of purchase to her via an email at her website. See www.carolmasonbooks.com for more details.

I've told you how Carol is generously donating to Breast Cancer Research this month, so I thought it would be fun to get to know Carol a little better and invited her over. I'm thrilled to introduce:

The 5W's of Carol Mason

WHO?

I’m a Brit from Northern England (home of flat caps, chip butties, and great beer). But when I was 21 I met a Canadian while traveling in Canada, I married him 4 years later, and we’ve lived in Vancouver ever since. I write the kind of books I love to read – absorbing contemporary stories about women’s marriages, loves, lost loves, friendships, etc. Books that – I hope – many women can see examples of themselves in.

WHAT? What do you enjoy doing other than writing in your spare time?
It’s funny, but even if I’m not writing, I find I’m on the Internet reading about books, looking for new great ones to read, reading online newspapers, looking for new book ideas. But the thing I love to do the most is cooking. So if I’m not searching for all of the above on the Internet, I’m usually printing off recipes. I’ve got millions of them stashed all over the house. I’ve bought binders to start organizing them but the task feels too overwhelming. I usually end up trying out about 1% of them – but like my ever-growing collection of shoes – it’s good to know I have them in my vicinity should I choose to take them for a test drive. I love classic food well made. I’m not crazy on too many fancy ingredients in one dish. I am afraid of the addictive power of a genuinely fabulous home-made dessert.

WHEN? When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Always. Though I don’t quite know where I came from. I come from a line of housewives and blue collar workers. I was never one of those kids who wrote stories and entered competitions but the idea that I could write still lurked there in me. I tried it out when I was in my mid-twenties. Wrote two really bad Harlequin romances (because I thought they’d be easy to write and easy to get published). How wrong I was! Then my house got burgled, the computer stolen, and the books – which I had not backed up – went along for the ride. I thought that was a sign that I should give up. But the idea of novel writing never went away. So I tried it again 5 years later. I had to work very hard to get published. 3 books. 3 years. Then my agent sold The Secrets of Married Women to Hodder & Stoughton. It was the happiest day in my life. Even happier than my wedding day because I wasn’t the centre of attention. I didn’t have to be on my best behavior. I could freak out in the privacy of my own home. And of course, there was champagne…

WHERE? Where do you write?
There’s a spot in my home at the top of my stairs, under a skylight. When we bought the house, the previous owners had just stuck a sofa there. It felt like a space that needed a purpose. I have a huge desk and a Himalayan Crystal Salt lamp and an essential oil burner. And then there is the random detritus of my life and my husband’s life, and even the dog’s life, that seems to gravitate there – odd socks that the dog brings me, nail files, dry pens, belts, receipts from my bags and pockets, cassette tapes, my husband’s spare change… I fantasize that one day I will own an ocean front pile and the consequent view from my window will inspire me to effortlessly write 3 novels a year, all international bestsellers, and all made into Hollywood movies. Because we all have to have our dreams.

WHY? Why do you write?
I write because I’m a bit of a rollercoaster person. I love highs, will take the lows, but hate the bit in-between. And most of the other jobs I’ve done have made me flat inside – I’ve just felt blah about them and then usually blah about my life as a result. With writing, yes it can be frustrating, and depressing even when it’s not going well, and you’re on a deadline, and you can’t seem to make a story work. But when it does work, or when you get a brilliant idea for a book, the joy is beyond compare. I am no longer massively excited to see my books in stores or see my foreign translations in my book case – though of course that is all good. But it’s the actual craft of writing that does it for me. I love feeling that I am becoming a better writer with each book, and that I’m more and more sure of the stories I want to tell. And what’s thrilling is that I can write about literally anything! Plus, of course, even though the writer’s life can be lonely sometimes, I’m lucky not to have a boss breathing over me, and office politics to deal with, and no on cares if I wear the same pair of pants three days in a row….

Carol Mason is the author of The Secrets of Married Women, Send Me A Lover and The Love Market – all recently re-released as Kindle E books, for $2.99. This March, buy her books and 50% net proceeds from sales will go to breast cancer. See www.carolmasonbooks.com for more details

Thank-you so much for joining us and sharing! I can't help, but think an amazing ocean view would somehow inspire me that, I too would write effortlessly!

Not only is Carol generous enough to donate 50% of all net proceeds to Breast Cancer, but she is also going to giveaway a print copy of THE LOVE MARKET! Want to win? Leave a comment below with your email address. This giveaway is for US/Canada only. The giveaway will close on March 28 midnight EST. You will have 48 hours to respond to my email or I'll pick another winner! Good-luck! And remember if you don't win, you can order any of Carol's book listed above and help a great cause at the same time!

9 comments:

Loved the Five W's. Built myself a sweet little office this past year, painted it a beautiful robin's egg blue, lots of counter space and now totally cluttered with Stuff. How does that happen to nice writers, anyway? Great view of the lake from my windows once I move the cat...

Thanks for stopping by A Novel Life! I am a mom to five and homeschool mom to three! I love reading, crocheting and sewing. I started blogging a few years ago writing book reviews. I'm looking to change my blog up a bit and write more about mom life! Hope you can stop by again!